Work has paid all maternity pay in one lump sum

[Tallandshort]

I wasn't expecting this.

We are on universal credit so this lump sum will mean we have to reapply next month and wait again.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Has my workplace broken any rules by just paying it as a lump sum without telling me they were doing so?!

To avoid drip feeding, I accepted voluntary redundancy so technically am no longer an employee as of December.

Also, how can I check the amount they have paid is correct? I would only be receiving statutory maternity pay but the first time they calculated the amount they were nearly £2000 off! Sneaky isn't a good enough description for them!

Cant comment spefically on maternity pay but my employer has just made redundancies and those people will be paid redundancy pay and their notice in one lump sum. As of Friday they are no longer employed so will be off the payroll.
I assume thats the same with your employer, they cant pay you monthly as you have left.

UC is for people who have no money. Due to redundancy, you have money, so you're not entitled to any more from the government.

You won’t be entitled to UC of you have redundancy pay.

@tillytoodles1 UC is for people on maternity leave and UC is for those with high childcare fees. She didn't know that she would get a lump sum.

I was paid mat pay in a lump sum as my contract had ended and it was a total nightmare. I had to get third party advice to untangle it (was a student at time so could go to uni advisors). Would advise u to get advice from somewhere - turn2us? Cab? Maybe pregnant then screwed website? Esp if housing benefit involved.

Can’t help on the UC front but it does state on the gov website about stat mat pay. It’s 90% of your salary for 6 weeks then about 150ish per week. But best to look it up and do the maths. You will have to tax / ni etc to pay

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay

To PP saying I'm not entitled to UC due to redundancy pay, I haven't received my redundancy pay yet and when I do it will equate to a week and a half of earnings.

I accepted voluntary redundancy so technically am no longer an employee as of December.

I think they are correct to do this.

I accepted voluntary redundancy during my first maternity leave and the remainder of my maternity pay was paid out alongside the lump sum of redundancy pay.

As you say, you are no longer an employee of the company so therefore not on payroll.

To find out what they’ve paid is correct, email HR or payroll to ask for the calculations - what is redundancy (tax free) and what is maternity pay (taxed) and what deductions they’ve made.

It doesn't matter to UC. OP has enough money to live on, so thats it. Im not saying it's fair, it's just how it works.

She's still an employee until Dec.
I took redundancy in the Dec to be completed in the March. I got the monthly pay i was meant to and then the redundancy money.

OP have you waived your rights to the statutory number of weeks full pay? I had two jobs - one made sure i was paid the full pay not maternity pay for the last 12 weeks then my redundancy. The included a clause that redundancy was immediate and there was no need to pay me the wages,

I think they're pulling a fast one.

As for UC, you likely won't get it this month due to the payment but reapply next month, it will depend on how much this gives you in savings

@tillytoodles1

UC is for people who have no money. Due to redundancy, you have money, so you're not entitled to any more from the government.

You can see why the Trumps and Johnsons of this world win power.

Unfortunately yes they can do this. My contract wasnt extended during my first pregnancy and two months into mat leave it ended and they paid remaining mat pay in a lump sum. I took legal advice as I meant I paid a hefty amount of student loan in one go, but sadly was told they had done nothing illegal.

Really fucked up my maths on how much savings I had as it was well over £1.5k down on what it should have been.

This was 3 years ago though, so defo worth checking again. I agree, go to Pregnant then Screwed.

This is permitted.

We got UC during furlough period as i was furloughed and dp self employed.

I had 4k in the bank so th op may still be entitled. DP then got the hmrc payout which meant that month we were over the threshold so no UC that month. We had to declare any income. We were on UC for total of 3.5 months got paid out twice, it seemed straightforward.

I don't know the rules, but they definitely can pay by instalments even after redundancy. I took voluntary redundancy when I was pregnant and they paid the instalments as if I was still working (except for the part where they forgot to pay for a bit and had to make that up with a lump sum!).

Normally no, if you are no longer on payroll then yes, although appreciate it's not ideal with UC etc.

Have you put a note on your journal for your work coach/advisor to explain what has happened? Of it is redundancy pay they can't count it as earnings but it can affect the savings part of UC, however I am really not sure how it counts when maternity pay, presumably as wages and not redundancy? That's really complicated 😔 I am presuming there was no other role to move you to as people on maternity are meant to be protected as much as possible from redundancy.

I'd speak to CAB and have them provide you with guidance and next steps on this!

Whether you're entitled to UC or not depends on how much you have in savings. Anything over £6k and you start losing money from your benefits, anything over £16k and you're not entitled. Obviously a large amount in one assessment period could mean you get no benefits that month. Double check if your claim will definitely be closed, it may not be.

You can check your maternity pay on the government website.

www.gov.uk/pay-leave-for-parents

They can pay you in a lump sum if they want as long as it's the correct amount obviously.

Google a charity called Universal Credit Essentials ( they also have a Facebook page under the same name. Their advisers are experts on this and will give advice based on your circumstances rather than general situations

This happened to a friend who was returning to the company afterwards. They paid the whole lot in a lump sum in March, so she had to pay a lot of extra tax compared to if she had received it monthly over the next 9 months.

I do wonder why you would take voluntary redundancy if the pay out is only 1.5 weeks wages? Usually voluntary redundancy comes with extra money as an incentive

This happened to a friend who was returning to the company afterwards. They paid the whole lot in a lump sum in March, so she had to pay a lot of extra tax compared to if she had received it monthly over the next 9 months.

Tax is based on a yearly basis so she shouldn't have had to pay extra. If she was put onto the wrong tax code she could just phone Hmrc and they would adjust it and pay her back anything she's owed.

Although op I do wonder why you took voluntary redundancy too if you weren't benefitting from it.

I think they were right to do this because you're leaving. Surely your benefits will balance out because later down the line you'll have less income than you would have done. The whole point is that you currently have money so use that instead of taxpayer money, then when you dont have money, you can have taxpayer money.

I know it's not your situation, but I know a frightening number of people hiding their savings so they can claim benefits. I knew someone who was fully panicking about getting 60k from the sale of his parents house because he wouldn't get benefits anymore, well no, because you'll have 60k, swap ya!

@FilthyforFirth - not sure what type of student loan you have but if you make an overpayment in a particular year then you might be able to reclaim it back. Check out money saving expert for advice; I claimed back almost £600 because I overpaid during maternity leave years. Of course, it depends on whether you’re likely to pay the whole loan back within the 30 year limit - I know I’m unlikely to!

Took voluntary redundancy because during lockdown they have changed my job role and the hours required making it impossible to arrange childcare to cover my shifts. There is no sign of this changing back anytime soon so I would either be handing in my notice at the end of maternity leave and not getting redundancy payout or getting the extra week and a halves pay now at the start by volunteering for redundancy